Madison News

High-tech USS Milwaukee is christened in Marinette

by Associated Press

MARINETTE, Wis. (AP) _ The USS Milwaukee has been christened and launched, and Gov. Scott Walker has proclaimed the day in honor of the Navy's latest high-tech vessel.

A Press-Gazette Media report says the littoral combat ship was christened Wednesday at Marinette, where it was propped up on rails. After a champagne bottle was broken across its hull, it was sent sliding sideways into the Menominee River.

The USS Milwaukee is the third littoral combat ship built at Marinette Marine Corp.

Littoral combat ships are part of a new class of warships. The speedy vessels are designed to conduct water combat immediately off an enemy's shore, and they can be managed with smaller crews. U.S. Navy officials tout them as the future of naval warfare.